Veronica hummed as she knelt on the soft parlor carpet. She smoothed the wrinkles out of her best Sunday dress, and patted the starched lace collar that matched the floppy ribbon that tied her golden curls to the top of her head. Sunday was her favorite day � the day Mama had Clara dress her up and let her play with her dolls in this room after the rosary was said. Papa had blessed the family and everyone left except Lizzy and Eddie.

"Yah, yah Vinegar Jug."

It always started this way. Veronica pretended not to hear.

Liz poked Eddie. "Look at sissy. Curls and lace," she taunted and grabbed the ribbon and pulled the bow it so Veronica's curls tumbled down her face.

"Go �way," Veronica cried.. "I'll tell Mama."

"Tattle-tale Vinegar Jug." Eddie thought he'd better get into the act or he'd feel the wrath of his twin sister. He picked up one of her dolls, tore its dress off and threw it into the corner.

"You killed her. You killed Annie," she shrieked. Her dolls were clothes pins her big sister, Clara had dressed and painted. Without their dresses, they were only wooden sticks.

Clara had been helping Mama in the kitchen when she heard the scream and rushed into the parlor to rescue her beloved baby sister. "Liz! Eddie!" she yelled. "Out! Little beasts belong in the barn. Go torture the pigs. That's where you belong. Out! Out! Out! "

"Vinky, Vinky, baby Vinky," they taunted as they scooted out the door, ducking Clara's threatening blows.

"Poor baby," Clara whispered and swept Veronica up into her arms. Lets fix your pretty ribbon and find your doll's dress. Those two won't be back until dinner time, you can bet on that.

"Why do they be mean to me?" Veronica was sobbing by now. "They think I'm just a baby, and I'm six. I'm not a baby anymore. Am I Clarie?"

"No sweetheart. And I shouldn't call you that anymore, either. You're a big girl now. That's how it is when you're the youngest."

Mama had been exhausted after the birth of her youngest child in the upstairs bedroom of the townhouse in Whitewood, and Clara had taken charge of baby Veronica and loved her like her own.

"They hate me �cause I don't like to play with the pigs, don't they? Pigs stink. and they're so big."

"They don't hate you, sweetheart. They only tease."

"Maybe if I didn't cry, they'd leave me alone, but I can't stop." Her tears caused her much pain and trouble. "And they think I'm a sissy �cause I don't go to the barn. The dust gets on my dresses out there. Lizzy doesn't care �cause she wears those awful overalls."

Unlike the twins who were seldom in the house, Veronica seldom ventured outside. She feared everything out there. She was afraid of the bugs, and every time she ventured out, an animal attacked her. "Vinky, Vinky, Vinegar Jug/Afraid of a pig/Afraid of a bug/Prissy, Missy, Vinegar Jug," they'd taunt and Veronica would cry and run to Clara.

"Oh, Clara. I hate them. They're just plain mean." Veronica stamped her tiny foot and hugged a little wooden doll close to her neck. "They hurt my Annie and she's sacred,"

Clara swept Veronica up into her arms and kissed her wet cheek. "Sacred? You think Annie is sacred?"

Veronica sniffed, "Sister Esther blessed Annie and told me now she's sacred. Don't you think so, Clara?"

"There's some things in the world that are sacred, baby, like the altar in the church or the blessed sacrament, but I don't think a doll can be sacred. I think Sister Esther was fooling you."

"Sister is almost my best friend in the whole world, �cept for you and Annie. She's married to Jesus. She wouldn't lie. Annie is sacred, and now she's broke. How I hate them."

"It's not nice to hate, Veronica. Sister Esther and Jesus are sad when you say that. Here, you sit in this chair and give me Annie. I'll bet I can fix her up, good as new."

"Is Sister Esther sacred, Clara? Do people be sacred? I'll bet Mama is sacred �cause she says the rosary all the time. And she likes everybody and never yells. She even likes Lizzy a lot. She must be sacred, huh Clara?"

"There. Annie's just like new. You play nice now. Clara has to go back and help Mama."

Veronica dropped to her knees on the floor and kissed the mended Annie. "You are sacred. I don't care what Clara says. And Mama is sacred. Sister Esther is sacred. Jesus is the most sacred of all. That's what Mama says. Sister says so, too. Lizzy and Eddie aren't. They're naughty. They get dirty, and holler, and tease the cows, and play with a dirty old pig. But Clara said that it's naughty to hate. I hate the filthy old dog, and Mama's nasty garden snake. The cows are so big and scary, I prob'ly hate them too." Veronica clasped the little wooden doll. "Oh, Annie, I'm such a bad girl. How can I ever be sacred?"

By the time Clara came to fetch her for supper, Veronica had sobbed herself to sleep still clutching Annie to her neck.

"Supper is on the table and everyone's waiting for their pretty Veronica. Put Annie away now."

"Can I tell you a secret, Clarie."

"Of course you can. You can whisper it in my ear right now."

"Annie whispered to me too and told me I have to stop hating so I can be sacred like her, so I �cided what I have to do."

"You said you want to be just like Mama," Clara hugged her closer.

"That was �cause Mama is sacred. But I don't want so many babies like Mama, so I'm going to marry Jesus like Sister Esther. Jesus will teach me how not to hate. Then I can be sacred too and kneel and pray in the church, not dig in the dirt and talk to a nasty old snake like Mama."

Veronica had her own special place at the table, between Mama at the foot of the table and Clara who tied a pink apron around her neck to protect her dress even though Veronica never slopped her food. "I don't like messy eaters," she'd said. "They make my stomach hurt." So she ate slowly and deliberately which gave the twins more fuel for their insults. Liz kicked Eddie under the table and pointed at Veronica whose eyes were closed and her hands clasped under her tiny chin.

"Dear Jesus, please help those unsacred twins be good so they can go to heaven," she prayed while the dinner prayer was said. She had made her pact with all she loved and from today on, she would train herself to be a bride of Jesus. Nothing was ever going to hurt her again.